Better schools

May 10, 2008

ANOTHER OPINIONFrom the Dallas Morning News During our recent interview with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the Harvard graduate grew the most excited when he presented his aims for Mexico's schools. His enthusiasm was encouraging and revealing. Calderon clearly understands that his nation's schools need to improve substantially for Mexico to grow -- and retain -- its middle class. Calderon animatedly explained his plans to develop an accountability system for Mexico's schools. In return for more exacting standards, he wants to sharply reward teachers for improving their schools. Merit pay and school benchmarks are familiar concepts here, in part because of the No Child Left Behind Act. As Mexico starts down this path, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings could share her experiences about the best way to balance carrots and sticks. Some parts of Mexico show encouraging signs. According to a new report for leaders of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua has more college graduates than most Mexican states. Also, 15-year-old students in Ciudad Juarez, where 40 percent of the state lives, are averaging higher scores in math than their peers around Mexico. The entire nation has far to go. The percentage of 15-year-old Mexicans proficient in math significantly trails that of countries such as Spain and Canada, which Mexico competes against in the world economy. And average formal schooling for Mexicans 15 years and older is 8.1 years. That's up from 2.6 years in 1960 but trails most nations against which Mexico benchmarks itself. For these reasons, it's encouraging that Calderon has put schools in his sights. The better its schools are, the more Mexico can develop its economy and create jobs that will keep Mexicans fairly employed in their homeland. That is better, too, for the United States.